Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

I would recommend watching a few videos/documentaries on "Ghost Guns". Vice had a really good one, if memory serves.

It isn't JUST "hit print, rack the slide, bust a cap". But with a properly calibrated printer and filament other than cheap PLA, it is real close. Download the STLs, start the build, and then head to the local hardware store for a few small springs and the (REDACTED) that becomes a firing pin. Then spend an hour or two screwing stuff together and filing down a few defects.

But also? Additive manufacturing is a vital part of so many industries at this point that I would not expect a crackdown on the STL files. Probably something similar to how DMCA is used with media files (which artists and engineers would generally tolerate, if not prefer, due to threads like this...). But all the drill bit holders and gunpla mods and the like aren't going to go away.

Whether we start needing background checks/licenses for the printers themselves is still up in the air. But expect massive lobbying against that since "maker spaces" and even just a printer at the library are a big part of the industry and this is something where The West already do not have any meaningful advantage.

To put it in context. With a decent CNC mill, you can make a straight up "real" gun in a few days for probably less than 500 bucks worth of stock (although, I would not be surprised if aluminum block prices have skyrocketed). But those cost thousands of dollars. A decent 3d printer costs less than 500 for the tool and you need less than 100 dollars of filament for the gun. We don't ban mills and lathes from private ownership. But I can definitely see something similar to medium sized drones where you need to fill out a form to legally own 3d printers of a certain size/quality